Author: Dan Grant (
dan.grant@bell.ca) from Toronto, Ontario
I don't know all there is to know about the stock market. I know the basics and that could get me by until I asked people that were much more well versed and graceful when it comes to that side of business. I do know however that the stock market can be sleazy and deceitful at times and it can also be cut-throat economics. With this in mind I went into this picture with high hopes of at least a film that would teach me something about a part of life that I knew very little about. I was also intrigued because Ben Affleck looked like he had the Alec Baldwin role from Glen Gary Glen Ross, that small but explosive role where the seasoned vet comes in and tells eveyone how to sell, when to sell and what the best way to screw people out of their money is..... and hey, what do you know, I was right. Ben Affleck does have a similar role to Baldwin's. But what I wasn't expecting was the film that was before me. Boiler Room is one hell of a film and even if you know very little about stocks and bonds and insider trading and what-not, there is still plenty in here to keep you intrigued.
The actors in here, while not huge by name alone, are quite good and keep your attention. As I said earlier, Ben Affleck intrigued me the most, perhaps it isn't so much him but the character he plays. He was the cocky-know-it-all-millionaire-playboy that cares about nothing but closing the deal. He is greedy, self centered and most of all damn good at what he does. He teaches the new recruits how to become ruthless and mechanically shut off emotionally. In his world of stocks, there is no place for feelings of guilt, sorrow or pity. In his world all you have time for is greed and anxiety.... anxious to cash you next $100 000 paycheck. Ben Affleck has a small role in the film but it is an effective one.
Giovanni Ribisi plays the good guy here, Scott Caan plays a young and wealthy broker that uses his wealth and power as a way to let go of his anger by constantly getting into physical altercations. But in an impressive smaller role, the one who impressed me the most was Vin ( Caparzo from Saving Private Ryan and also the lead in Pitch Black )Diesel. He plays his character ( Chris ) right down the middle. He wants Seth ( Ribisi ) to succeed but he doesn't seem as ruthless as some of the other brokers and at the end he does something incredibly noble in the face of imminent doom, and that is what I found compelling about his character. Most of the other characters are all driven by success and money and show little compassion, but Chris ( Diesel ) does have that side to him and I enjoyed Diesel's performance quite a bit in Boiler Room.
The story is also quite intriguing and it is both fun and a little horrific to get into the heads and lives of these men as they deliberately try to ruin people's lives in the hopes of bettering their own. They fraudulently sell normal people bogus stocks to bogus companies and it doesn't matter that the people they are selling to are family, blue collar workers that want so badly to believe the American Dream has just landed in their lap that they believe anything that these total strangers are saying to them over the phone. And that gives the movie it's edge.
Boiler Room is the best movie I have seen so far in this new year. Although the new year is not even 4 months old yet, this is one film that may have a chance to make my top ten list of films for the year 2000. This is the first film for writer/director Ben Younger and at the age of 27 it looks as though this guy has a good future in the game. Not that I am comparing Younger to Spielberg or Boiler Room to Jaws, but Steven was 26 when he made Jaws and look where he is today. Again, I am not saying that Younger is following in those footsteps but it is a great film for a guy that is three years less than 30. I highly recommend this film to everyone!
8.5 out of 10.... a great triumph for Ben Younger and all involved.
